Week Ending 25th August 2013

So it’s the end of another busy week here on Flat Holm Island. The week has seen 2 reasonably sized groups of visitors visit on the Westward Ho from Western-Super-Mare, and for the best part of those visits the weather played ball and was very pleasant.

The gull colony is now pretty much empty and will stay that way through until the spring when the breeding season begins all over again. Hopefully we will see some of the chicks that were ringed this year return to the island as the colony reassembles next year.

There were slightly fewer butterflies recorded on this week’s survey, but the island was packed full of other wildlife during our invertebrate survey. The team found Cave Spiders in the underground ammunition stores, several species of Dragonfly on the Elder bushes and a couple of new day flying moths.

A Migrant Hawker Dragonfly on the Elder bush

On the bird front we have noticed a large number of Oyster Catchers visiting the island’s West Beach at dusk every night. Now that their breeding season is over it seems that they no longer return to the site at which they nested, and are using the island as a congregation point. In recent nights we have seen up to 80 Oyster Catchers arrive on the beach, while we have previously only observed 10 using the island as a nesting site. Unfortunately by the time that they arrive the light is low and the black birds against the black rocks doesn’t make for a good picture!

It's much easier to spot Oyster Catchers during the daytime!

Although the breeding pair of Peregrine Falcons have now left the island with their fledged chick, a pair of Peregrines were spotted flying over the island this morning. There are of course still plenty of pigeons that they could pick up here as a tasty snack!

Work on restoring the old building directly above the jetty is now complete with Molly and Harriet putting in a lot of hours to get the project finished while the rest of the team were otherwise occupied. The building now looks great and is a much better first impression for those who step off the boats and up the jetty.

Before...

After...Looks much better

This weeks funny story comes from China. With our placement coming to an end on the island at the end of September we are still looking for a new job to take on afterwards. Something tells me that I won't be taking a job enforcing this new law in one of the southern cities....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23766837

See you all next week!

Week Ending 18th August 2013

It's been another busy week out here on Flat Holm with 4 consecutive days of visitors coming to visit the island.

Stuart and I were given the task of returning to the mainland to pick up the shopping for the next 5 weeks, staying overnight in Cardiff before returning to the island the next day. Everything went exceptionally well, with the exception of all the items that were in cardboard containers being destroyed by the rain!

The sun setting behind the Farmhouse over Barry Island

With the school holidays still in full swing we have had a reasonable number of children coming to visit the island with their families, and it always makes me smile as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that we live here without shops, cinemas or bowling alleys that they hold so dearly at home.

The butterfly count this week was well over the 200 mark again, with many of the white varieties of butterfly making a bit of a comeback.

With the number of gulls falling each week we have had more of an opportunity to stop and notice more of the smaller birds that are now calling the island home. Chiff Chaffs, Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Wheatears are all commonly spotted at the moment, while along the coastline a pair of Whimbrels have frequently been spotted on the rocks down toward the water's edge.

The dry stone walling project is now back in full swing after a number of other jobs taking priority in recent weeks. Day by day the wall gets a little higher, and while it may not be the work of a professional we are all pretty pleased with how it's going.

Mat, Molly and Vicky working on the dry stone walling

Now I'm sure all of us at some stage have worried about being robbed or mugged when we've been carrying something extra valuable around with us (we certainly were carrying our passports and £2000 of cash with us around some questionable places while we were travelling), but in Venezuela it's maybe not what you are carrying in your pockets that you need to be worried about....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23707452

See you next time!  *Photos to follow shortly*

Week Ending 11th August 2013

Our first full week back on the island following our short break has been a fairly busy one, but we have got a lot of important jobs ticked off the list.

Light breaking through the clouds above one of the searchlight posts

After posting the last blog, I realised that there was one important detail that I had missed out. Just before we left the island for our short stay back on the mainland, it was time for the island's annual wild leak survey. The wild leaks that we have on the island grow in only 5 places in the UK, and we are lucky enough to be one of them. They are protected by law and it is a criminal offence to pick them or damage them in any way.

A Bumblebee enjoying one of the 3,135 wild leaks we have on the island

Statistically a population of over 3,000 leaks is classed as "healthy", while if the figures were to fall below 1,500 the population would be classed as "of concern". After a great deal of counting we finally came to record a population size of 3,135 wild leaks for Flat Holm meaning that we have a healthy population!

So back to this week. We began by putting out our moth trap overnight, and ended up having our most successful haul by far; 56 moths which were made up of 26 different species that we were able to identify!

The weeks butterfly walk was also similarly successful, with nearly 300 butterflies being recorded during the lap of the island. A few more species of butterfly have become more prominent since we returned to the island, with the Peacock and Comma butterflies becoming a much more common sight.

A Peacock Butterfly on the head of a Teasel that is starting to flower

The Comma Butterfly with it's frilly wings is now a common sight on the island

One of the lengthier tasks for the week was to top up the water tank that flushes the toilets on the south side of the island. The tank can hold around 6,000 litres, however the bowser pump that we use to pump water into it can only take 1,000 litres at a time. 

Vicky's turn at holding the hose in place

During the time while we were waiting for the tank to fill however I spotted something that made all of the waiting around worthwhile. A Jersey Tiger Moth came and landed only a couple of metres away from where we were filling the tank. The Jersey Tiger is classed as "Nationally Scarce" although in recent years their numbers have been reported as increasing and becoming more widespread. Previously they were often only sighted in and around the Devon area. A few years ago when one was sighted on Flat Holm is was recorded as the first ever sighting of a Jersey Tiger Moth in Wales! 

The Jersey Tiger Moth. Very happy to have seen one of these!

Although we only had the one boat visit this week the Westward Ho brought 93 passengers over from Western-Super-Mare, which meant we had an incredibly busy day. Five separate guided tours were required to accommodate everybody, but the weather was great and everybody seemed to have a fun day out.

So to finish off this week, what do you think is the most unlikely thing ever found on an underground train? Something about this discovery on a New York Metro train just seems a little fishy to me!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23610105

See you all next week!

Catch Up Time! - Week Ending 4th August 2013

Wow... I can't believe that we are into August already! Apologies for the absence of blogs recently, but having had a short break away from the island we've been busy getting all the little things done back on the mainland that we don't get a chance to do here.

Following on from the last blog entry on the 21st July, we had to head back to Cardiff for a few days of training before our official "holiday" began. A very comprehensive and practical first aid course was followed the next day by formal training in the use of Trimmers & Brushcutters, both of which we were able to pass. The latter is especially good news as we are now certified to use the machines in public areas, and that opens up another possible new door for the future.

Heading back down to Kent following the training was great, although as per normal there was little time for relaxing with a large number of jobs to get done and people to see in such a small amount of time. At least the weather really played ball when we visited Mum and Dad for a Sunday afternoon BBQ where a good time was had by all!

Although we are only just over half way through our 6 month placement on Flat Holm, the search is already on for future work as most jobs with a September / October start date are already recruiting. We have put in several applications for a range of roles in the conservation sector, and we have managed to secure an interview with the Kent Wildlife Trust for a similar placement to the one that we are currently on. Hopefully it will go well as a certain amount of time we have spent back home has been used brushing up on our knowledge.

So now tomorrow we head back to our island life once again, with a stop at Maidstone along the way for the above mentioned interview. Although we have only been off the island for such a short time I have to say I am really missing it. To us the island really feels like home and an extension of ourselves and our personality. It will be very interesting to see how the island has developed in our absence, with many of the plants coming into flower and the gulls preparing to leave the island after the breeding season.

We haven't really taken any photos this week, hence the absence of the usual snaps, but here's one from the stock cupboard just to add a little colour to the page.

Sunset over Lavenock Point

So to finish off this week, do you fancy winning yourself £7080? I'm sure most people would like to, and all you need to do is write the country of Switzerland a new national anthem! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23550915

Normal blogging service should be resumed this Sunday, see you all then! 

Week Ending 21st July 2013

It's been another scorching hot week out here on Flat Holm, and the island is starting to look more yellow than it's normal green. All of us have been feeling the heat, including the animals and the plants.

Despite the hot weather work goes on though, and it has been a pretty full on week. Unquestionably the largest challenge of the week was removing the commercial sheep from the island. They have at last found a new home to go to, but I think it's fair to say that they didn't want to leave this one!

It took many hours of building pens and herding (even sometimes carrying) the sheep between them, but eventually we were able to get the sheep onto the Harbour II boat and send them off to their new home.

Finally all of the sheep are safely on the boat and ready to depart for their new home

The Meadow Brown butterflies have been out in force this week, with well over 100 of them being counted on the weekly survey. The numbers of the Small Tortoiseshells have dropped off significantly, while the Large Whites seem to be making something of a comeback.

One of the Meadow Browns sunning itself on a Wild Leek

A Red Admiral lands on one of the Wild Leeks

With the weather being so hot, many of the birds are regularly being seen around the few areas that we actually have water left. With all of our collection tanks for outdoor use running very low we are hoping for a good rain storm to get us back on track. Not often you hear us wishing for that!

A pair of Greenfinches come down for what little water is left in the wildlife pond (female left, male right)

We had 2 school groups come over and visit us during the week. For the first we hosted a pirate treasure hunt with clues hidden all across the island. Most of the kids really got into it although a few of them...lets just say they might not be cut out for the great outdoors!

The second group were slightly older, and they came with the brief that they had to record a film of some description on the island. Some went for the conventional documentary type approach while others went down a more Disney meets horror movie route! I will certainly be interested to see what they look like if the school send the finished products over to us!

The rest of the week was taken up by continuing on the building that we are working on down near the jetty. By now all of the old lichen has been removed and the majority of the old paint has been scraped off. All that remains now is for it to be primed and painted and it should look as good as new again.

This weeks news story focuses on incredible luck, and just goes to show that when you think something is truly lost it might not be so lost as you think!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-23388667

See you all next week :)

Week Ending 14th July 2013

It's been another extremely sunny and warm week out here on Flat Holm, which is great for the relaxing outside in the evenings but not so good for all of the heavy manual work!

The week began with a full clean down of our water system on Monday. All of the large water tanks had to have their contents run down in order for us to clean them, and getting rid of so much water felt so strange considering how hard we normally try to conserve it! Once the tanks had been run down and scrubbed we then flushed a bleach solution through all of the pipework across the island before the system was re-topped up and flushed through with clean water again to rinse it.

On Tuesday the week's butterfly survey saw the general population of the island boom, with us recording more than twice the number of butterflies compared to any of our previous surveys.

As well as looking at the butterflies this week we also took the time to create a new invertebrate study which enable us to get a better understanding of the less obvious creatures that we share our island with. So far we have found 4 different species of grasshopper, many different flies and beetles as well as a couple of spiders.

Vicky, Molly and Emma trying to identify some of the insects we found

With us having had so many scorching days without a drop of rain over the last 2 weeks some of the plants and vegetation around the island seem to be struggling. Ideally we could do with a bit of rain before long to keep the plants going as they act as a habitat for many of the insects that we find.

During the week we had a visit in very unfortunate circumstances from the police search and rescue helicopter. A young girl who was swimming in the sea off the coast of Barry had gone missing, and a 3 day search followed in the surrounding area including Flat Holm. The helicopter circled the island to do a visual search before landing to come and talk to us all. Having followed the story on the news our team had already conducted a search of the shoreline just in case but had found nothing. 2 days later we heard the terrible news that her body had been found a few miles from where she was swimming, and our thoughts go out to all of her family and friends.

The police helicopter coming in to land on the helipad

With the only boat of the week being Thursday's Westwood Ho trip the rest of the week was an ideal opportunity to carry on with a few of the ongoing jobs around the island. The dry stone wall has continued to get slightly larger although it is still very slow progress. We are also scraping and scrubbing down one of the old storage buildings near the island's jetty in the hope that we can get a new coat of paint on it some time within the next week.

The weekend has so far provided us with a good opportunity to spend some time swimming and sunbathing on the beach, and generally taking it easy before we get back to work on Monday.

Matt enjoying himself in charge of the BBQ

This week's amusing story is all about misheard song lyrics. Unfortunately "just let me staple the vicar" (from Peter Kay's latest stand up) didn't make it in, but here are some of the most commonly mistaken lyrics as voted for by the public...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23284179

Have a good week and we'll see you next time!

Week Ending 7th July 2013

It’s been all smiles out here on Flat Holm this week after the weather has finally noticed that it’s supposed to be summer! This has made for far more interesting insect activity including the butterfly and the ladybirds that we survey weekly.

The Small Tortoiseshell butterfly population has soared and these were a common sighting across the island during this week’s survey, while the population of Small White and Green Veined White butterflies appear to have fallen.

A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly taking a break on a thistle

The number of casual sightings of other insects (we don’t have an official survey for them) has also increased with sightings such as this Blister Beetle below:

The "Blister Bug" can secrete a toxic chemical causing a nasty skin reaction including (yes you guessed it...) blistering

The Shelducks now appear to be leaving the island following the breeding season, with only 3 birds reported as being seen during the week’s survey. Across the country there have been reports of the Shelduck ducklings fledging their nests and taking to the water, but this unfortunately hasn’t been seen here on Flat Holm. Whether there were any ducklings that we missed or whether the season had been unsuccessful we will not know.

The main event of the week however was undisputedly the annual gull ringing weekend. You will have heard me mentioning the gull rings that we monitor here on the island in the previous blogs, and they enable us to study the migratory habits and lifespan of the birds. Since the last blog incidentally, we have recorded the sighting of a gull 2 years older than our previous best meaning that the oldest recorded gull on the island is now 18 years old!

Of course in order for us to be able to study these rings they must be applied to the gulls in the first place, and this is where this weekend’s event comes in. Every year a team of gull ringers comes over to the island, and with the help of us trainees we apply uniquely identifiable rings to 100 of the gull chicks. Each year the rings are a different colour and contain a different alpha-numeric code usually ending in F. This year the rings are green with white writing. This ring is placed on their left leg and a corresponding  smaller silver metal ring is placed on their right leg.

The chicks have to be selected quite carefully, as it is in the interest of the project as a whole that they are likely to survive. This rules out the younger and smaller chicks as they are the most likely to be predated upon by the other gulls. However the oldest and most developed gulls are now able to fly, and as such are now nearly impossible to catch, making it a balance in judgement to select the right ones.

Vicky has selected a chick and is waiting to have the ID rings fitted

Although the effort took a lot longer than we had originally hoped we did manage to get all 100 rings onto a chick (and I don’t mean just one chick!), and they will now go on to be studied far and wide for years to come. Let’s just hope the Peregrines don’t feel the need to devour them all!

Me with the first chick that I helped to ring. Green and White 4TF. Maybe one day our paths will cross again?

*Side note - Speaking of the Peregrines, we are really excited to see that they have successfully bred on the cliff face this year and the young Falcon is now flying alongside it’s parents!*

While the bird ringers were on the island they also took the opportunity to conduct some mist netting to catch and ring some of the smaller species of bird that we have on the island. The nets are made of a fine dark material making them almost invisible when bright daylight isn’t present, and the birds become trapped in a shelf like layer of the net. This doesn’t harm the birds in any way and the nets are checked every 15-20 minutes to ensure that the birds do not remain trapped for long.

Setting up the mist nets

The smaller birds do not receive colour coded rings like the gulls, instead only receiving the small metal rings like the ones placed on the right legs of the gulls. After a few measurements and a weigh in the birds are then released and are on their way again.

A song thrush has been caught in the nets and is having an identification ring fitted

Minutes later the same song thrush is ready to be released. His ring is clearly visible just above the foot.

This week’s amusing news story comes from Sheffield, and shows how creating modern art can not only make you money but cost you a lot of money too...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-23203033

See you next time!